CIVITATES BARBARIAE

This directly comes from the Barbagia region in Sardinia. A wild and beautiful part of that island, which is ruled by mainland Italy. Just like it is with neighbour Corsica (France), there is a long tradition in struggling for independence. Grounded in the constant need of defense against diverse seafaring powers arriving from all around the Mediterranean Sea in the old days. And so Sardinia is wellknown due to the specific Nuraghi for example, small tiny fortifications, which you can still find everywhere around, more or less well preserved. Many towns are high up in the mountains, time consuming to reach in most cases, even a dangerous undertaking in earlier times. According to that the residents are proud of and still intensively maintaining their own cultural identity and dialect. Named after the ancient Nuragic people living way back in the Bronze and Iron ages ILIENSES is a music project deeply connected with the traditional folk music of this region.

Certainly not the first, but what makes it particularly interesting for me is the unique approach to combine ancient folk roots with a modern twist by using progressive rock signatures, preferably due to proper jazz fusion elements. Supported by several guest musicians studied bass player Mauro Medde and Natascia Talloru have initiated this entity, the latter is responsible for the vocals respectively narrations. The album is running with a length of about forty minutes, concipated just like a soundtrack for a movie. You ideally should hear this in one go. A rather cinematic experience so to say. The opening title track immediately gives an impression about the ritualistic being. We can hear the Sardinia typical deep throated singing, accompanied by tumborro percussion. It reminds me of diverse festivities, often taking place with parades similar to carnival while presenting several rituals.

Over the course they continue to reveal more traditional instruments like campanacci, pipes, horns, bells and triangles. A Ferru Frittu is one album highlight for sure, completes the transition into the modern with Medde's funky bass and a strong jazzy behaviour due to the piano and Fabio Perra's drumming. Ex Voto comes very dark mooded, where Lumerras and Arrastu even evolve into a rather heavy, aggressive behaviour. The variety of the closing track Barbagia finally serves the cherry on the cake. Mystic narrations and tools, the swirrling jazz fusion, basso (bassu) tenore styled pastoral singing, the unusual stakkato piano and melancholic ambient synthesizer layers. I'm thrilled due to this eclectic symbiosis of quite diverse influences and ingredients. ILIENSES are creating an incomparable atmosphere on 'Civitates Barbariae'. Highly recommended. 4.5 stars.

Ilienses were born in 2018 in the province of Nuoro on the initiative of multi-instrumentalist and composer Mauro Medde from Gavoi and vocalist Natascia Talloru from Tonara. The name of the band refers to the ancient Nuragic people who lived during the Bronze and Iron Ages in central-southern Sardinia, in an area called Barbagia, a natural region located alongside the Gennargentu massif. Their aim is to blend the sound of Sardinian traditional instruments such as tumbarinos, pipiolos, tumborro, corno, triangulu, campanacci di Tonara or cantu a tenore vocals with modern rock instruments such as electric bass, piano, synth and drums. The result is a very particular mix of dark folklore and progressive rock full of experimentalism and original ideas...

In 2020 Ilienses self-released an excellent debut album entitled "Civitates Barbariae", recorded with the help of the guest musicians Fabio Perra (drums), Alessio Zucca (piano) and Daniele Soru (bassu tenore). All the tracks of the albums are linked together to form a long suite dealing with the history and the spirit of Barbagia. Narrative vocals in Italian introduce the subject matter driving you in an ancient, imaginary world where proud wild tribes fight for their freedom opposing the foreign rule. In fact, Roman domination in this part of Sardinia was never more than nominal...

According to the band, this work was conceived as an imaginary soundtrack for a film although the plot is up to your imagination. There are many whispered and recitative vocal fragments in Sardinian language taken from the works by Peppinu Mereu, a poet from Tonara, to stir your imagination and to add colours to the picture while the music flows leading you through an enchanted, almost magical world. You can hear the sound of blades and spears or the echoes of ancient pagan rites, there are ghosts riding under the moon... But if you pay the due attention you can also perceive that the music and words are the fruit of a real philological research. In the end, narrative vocals in Italian evoke the soul of the land that, tired to wander into blooded soil and pain, surrenders to fate. But even in the darkest moment the beauty of Sardinia's natural and cultural heritage shines through...

By the way, to promote the album the band shot an evocative video to give an idea of what their music is about? Have a try!